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Ybor noise threshold again a matter of debate

YBOR CITY - Battle lines are forming over the din on Seventh Avenue.

A divided noise committee voted 7-4 last week to reject a consultant's recommendation to lower the noise enforcement threshold to 75 from 85 decibels. The City Council will consider the committee's vote at a future council meeting, which hasn't been set.

The city hired the consultant last year in response to persistent complaints about music from clubs and bars.

The committee - which includes residents, club owners, business leaders and city officials - supported the consultant's recommendation to measure noise levels from the property line, as opposed to the middle of the street, where noise levels are measured now.

That amounts to a noise reduction, said Vince Pardo, executive director of the Ybor City Development Corp. From property line to street is "about an 8 decibel drop," he said.

Residents said they'll continue to push for the 75-decibel limit.

DAVIS ISLANDS - Adalia Avenue may soon get help with its traffic woes.

The city is developing a traffic calming plan for the street, which is the first one on the right as motorists zip on to the islands over the bridge.

Residents turning left from Adalia face a dangerous blind spot.

The city and residents have discussed the possibility of extending a median south from the bridge to deter motorists from turning left onto Davis Boulevard, said Rudy Fernandez, president of the Davis Islands Civic Association.

Another possibility: turning the north end of Adalia into a cul-de-sac.

City officials will discuss ideas Thursday, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., at Davis Islands Baptist Church, 97 Biscayne Ave. For information, call William Porth, the city's neighborhood traffic coordinator, at 274-8530.

INTERBAY - Residents of Rembrandt Garden apartments are holding a series of cleanups, beginning June 20.

On June 20 and June 21, they'll be raking the grounds and sweeping the parking lots, said Bruce Williams, the cleanup organizer and president of the tenants' association.

On June 27 and June 28, they'll be planting gardens and painting garbage cans.

Students from Robinson High School and the Liberty Mompierre Boys and Girls Club have agreed to help with the latter.

The work extends each day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Call Williams at 831-8944 for more information.

CHANNEL DISTRICT - City officials helped kick off site work Wednesday for the Victory Lofts at Channelside, a $28-million condo development at the corner of 12th and Whiting streets.

"This is a landmark step for the future of downtown neighborhood development," Shannon Edge, Tampa's new neighborhood and community relations director, said in a statement.

Contractors will convert a four-story warehouse built in 1925 to store automobiles into 28 loft units. Next to that building, called Model T, will be a seven-story Victory building, with 61 loft units.

Floor plans include loft flats, two-story lofts and luxury two-story loft penthouses. Prices will range from $160,000 to $850,000.